Larimer Humane Society seeking citizen sales tax initiative

Petitions likely circulated in coming weeks for November election

FORT COLLINS - The Larimer Humane
Society is planning to ask residents for a
sales tax to build a new shelter on 27 acres it
owns on County Road 30 near the Fort Col´
lins-Loveland Municipal Airport.

A citizen group representing the nonprofit
plans to circulate petitions to place a request
on the November ballot for a tenth of a per´
cent sales tax for six years to build a
39,000-square-foot shelter and headquarters
facility - more than three times larger than
the current 38-year-old building.

If approved, the tax would bring Larimer
County's sales tax to 7 percent and Love´
land's to 6.6 percent.

"This is a community that does care about
animals, and this is an opportunity to show
that they do care," Judy Calhoun, executive
director of the Humane Society, told the Lar´
imer County commissioners Monday during
a work session on the possible tax.

Many details must still be worked out,
such as what government agency would se´
cure bonds that the nonprofit would repay
with the sales tax as well as the extent of
Larimer County's role.

Betty, a 5-year-old female English bulldog, peers out of her kennel as she recovers Monday from eye surgery and being spayed at the Larimer Humane Society in Fort Collins. Betty came into the shelter as a stray and will soon be available for adoption. This set of kennels has a single drain in front, instead of a drain for each kennel, which would be preferable.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

Would the county
own the facility or just be involved in con´
struction?

"There's a lot of questions about this,"
said Commissioner Steve Johnson. "This is
new and novel, and this might be the way to
go. But one thing I am sure about is your fa´
cility is really inadequate. The need is abso´
lutely unquestioned for some kind of
change."

The shelter is too small for all of the ani´
mals housed there, for the staff and for the
injured and orphaned wildlife it rehabili´
tates, Calhoun said. New state rules will
soon render the dog kennels inadequate for
larger animals, and often animals are
housed in every corner, according to inform´
ation from Humane Society staff and board
members.

Areas of the Larimer Humane Society building are separated from the cement floor Monday in a hallway that leads to the dog kennels.
(
Jenny Sparks
)

"All your meeting rooms are full of ani´
mals, and your staff is in closets," Johnson
added.

"We have a situation that is very unsus´
tainable right now, and it needs an answer.
You have done an excellent job of duct tape
and baling wire and twine and volunteers in
keeping this together for 38 years. It should
have crashed a long time ago."

The Humane Society houses abandoned
and surrendered animals, matching many
with permanent homes; contracts with Lari´
mer County, Loveland and Fort Collins to
provide animal control services; and steps in
to house animals in community emergen´
cies such as the High Park fire.

Its services with the county have been re´
duced due to budget cuts in recent years
and will be shrunk even more over the next
three years as a criminal justice sales tax
phases out.

Schematic drawing for proposed new facility

Voters chose not to renew the
sales tax, leading to a $50,000 cut per year in
service to the county 2013-2015.

That, in itself, should be considered in de´
termining the county's role in helping the
nonprofit animal agency with the construc´
tion project if the tax is approved, said Coun´
ty Manager Linda Hoffmann.

"Those cuts become quite deep beginning
in 2014," she said. "Thinking about building
a new facility that we may not be able to pay
our share of cost to build a new facility that
we will not be able to share in the services
of is troubling to me."

The Humane Society moved into its cur´
rent 11,000-square-foot facility 38 years ago
and, in 2007, began leasing 2,000 square feet
of space. That year, the agency also bought
the land on County Road 30.

During the past year, the nonprofit has
been working with an architect to design a
facility to improve the care for animals and
meet its needs along with modest growth.

Calhoun said the new building will cost
$16.5 million. The tax, if approved, would
cover $13 million of the construction and is
projected to produce an extra $10 million for
maintenance and operations over the six
years. The remaining $3.5 million for the
building would likely be raised through a
donation campaign.

Discussions on county involvement,
agreements with Loveland, Fort Collins and
Larimer County and exactly how the con´
struction project would shape up are just be´
ginning. However, the Humane Society
hopes to have volunteers circulating a peti´
tion with approved ballot language within
the next few weeks.

To make it on the ballot, volunteers need
12,500 valid signatures by July 18. Calhoun
hopes they will collect 25,000 just to be safe.
If it doesn't pass, the board of the nonpro´
fit will have to come up with another plan
very quickly because the current facility
won't last much longer and neither the non´
profit nor its governmental partners have
enough money to build a new one.

"We think this is the solution," said John
Frey, chair of the Humane Society board. "I
think the Plan B is to see Plan A. This really
serves the county."